Equipment
Grab that net and catch that beautiful butterfly, pal!
If you look through the Tour photos that are on GolfWRX every week, you may notice that more often than not, players have added a little flair to their golf golf clubs.
Whether it is in the form of excessive amounts of hand stampings (Rocco Mediate), or the trademark “Apples” that don Stuart Appleby’s Callaway irons, custom options on golf clubs can give us a better idea of a golfer’s personality.
But as I pillaged through the photos this week from the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, I came across a set of wedges that actually made me proud.
Morgan Hoffman, an amateur standout who left Oklahoma State early to turn professional in 2010, brought these wedges to the table:
As any warm-blooded male or female movie-goer would notice, Hoffman is paying homage to some of the most famous lines in “Wedding Crashers” to identify his wedges. Priceless.
We will start with his custom-stamped Vokey 52-degree wedge, on which “Play Like A Champion” is stamped. No, that wasn’t stenciled in his locker room at OSU nor is it a reference to the sign hanging high in the Notre Dame locker room. It’s the latter half of rule No. 76 of wedding crashing: “No excuses. Play like a champion.”
In reality, the 2009 Walker Cup member and former No. 1-ranked amateur follows this credo. Now granted, this is golf and no amount of crab cakes and champagne will remedy an unruly putter, but it’s at least a catchy phrase. I wonder what “Wedding Crasher” quotes Tiger would have on his wedges. Actually… nevermind.
Now we all know who and what his Vokey 58-degree references — awkward. Of course, the phrase could be in reference to his Pro V1X golf ball “clinging” onto the greens, or the grooves on his wedge “clinging” to the ball. An argument could be made for either… but if you’ve seen the movie, you know exactly what it means.
Last but not least, when things really started to get away from John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) in the movie was when there was dissension in the ranks and the whole plan was falling apart “Lock it up” was all they had to say. I could make a reference to Morgan “locking up” his Tour card or “locking up” his first victory but I won’t. Whoops.
Regardless of how he plays this week or for the rest of the year, Hoffman has a new fan. Now, if only someone would have “Big Lebowski” quotes on their clubs, that would be taking custom clubs to a whole new level. Of course, we would have to blur the images for bad language.
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Whats in the Bag
Patrick Reed WITB 2024 (May)
- Patrick Reed what’s in the bag accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G400 (8.5 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125 MSI 70 Tour X
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 125MSI 80 Tour X
Hybrid: Callaway Apex Pro (18 degrees)
Shaft: Aldila RIP Phenom Hybrid 100 TX
Irons: Titleist 716 TMB (2), Grindworks PR-202 (4), Grindworks PR-101A (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore (50-10 Mid), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56-08M @55), SM10 (60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey White Hot RX Pt Customs No. 2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
More photos of Patrick Reed’s WITB in the forums.
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Equipment
John Daly’s $750 custom irons and 10 must-see gear photos from the 2024 PGA Championship
Welcome to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
In the last two PGA Championships held at Valhalla, Tiger Woods won in 2000 – when he famously pointed his golf ball into the hole during the historic duel with Bob May – and Rory McIlroy won the 2014 event, basically in the dark on the final hole.
The point is, history shows that Valhalla tends to produce top-tier champions and plenty of drama.
This week at the 2024 PGA Championship, GolfWRX got its first up-close look at what some of the LIV Tour players have in their bags in 2024. We also caught back up with a few PGA Championship legends, such as Rich Beem and John Daly, and we dove into the bags of PGA Sectional qualifiers, too.
In total, we captured 47 different photo galleries this week, including 32 individual What’s In The Bag (WITB) forum threads. Click here to see all of our photos from the event, or continue reading to see my 10 equipment highlights from Valhalla.
1) Brooks Koepka’s new putter
Koepka was previously using a Scotty Cameron T5.5 putter with a slant neck, which he used to win at the beginning of the month in Singapore on the LIV tour. This week, however, he tried a T5.5 with a plumbers neck instead of the slant neck, and it’s immediately going in the bag. According to Scotty Cameron Tour rep Drew Page, Koepka already loved the head, and now finds the plumbers neck a bit more familiar to the blade-style putters he’s used throughout most of his career.
2) The lead tape king returns, with putting goggles
Phil Mickelson has always been one of the GOATs when it comes to lead tape usage, so it was no surprise to see his 64-degree custom Callaway wedge slathered with slabs of lead tape on the back.
The big surprise was that lefty was spotted using ProAim putting training goggles on Wednesday during his warm-up session.
The ProAim goggles are helpful to find center lines and ensure proper alignment to the target.
See Phil Mickelson’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship
3) Dobyns’ old-school gamer setup
Speaking of lead tape, check out Matt Dobyn’s old Titleist 718 T-MB irons, which are so loaded with lead tape that the club is nearly unrecognizable.
Respect.
The head professional at Meadow Brook Club is making his sixth start in a PGA Championship, and he’s using a throwback Callaway GBB Epic driver with MOI-boosting lead tape and adjustable weight placements.
As GolfWRX Forum user “InTheBag” pointed out in our Matt Dobyns’ WITB thread, he has the type of setup that makes you want to hide your wallet: “I don’t know Mr. Dobyns, but one look at that bag tells me he can take your money,” writes InTheBag.
Spot on.
4) John Daly’s custom Sub70 irons and wedges
We first saw John Daly using $750 direct-to-consumer Sub70 659-CB irons and TAIII wedges at the 2023 PNC Championship, and he still has them in the bag, but he’s since stepped up the customization on the Sub70 clubs.
Does Daly ever NOT keep things entertaining?
View this post on Instagram
A true showman.
5) DJ’s custom putter
Dustin Johnson has always been one to test multiple putters week-to-week, and he has a keen eye for different alignment lines and crowns. This week, he’s opting for a completely gray TaylorMade Spider Tour “T3.0” prototype with a short slant neck.
See the rest of DJ’s WITB from the week here
6) Patrick Reed still rocking GrindWorks irons
Patrick Reed knows his stuff when it comes to equipment, and he’s a prolific tester. Still, however, the GrindWorks PR-101A irons are squarely in the bag after his departure to the LIV tour.
The most notable new addition to Reed’s bag is this Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond 3-wood.
Click here to see Reed’s full WITB from this week
7) Beem’s Scratch set
Rich Beem, who won the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, came to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla with a bag full of Scratch Golf irons, which are loaded with lead tape and equipped with some of the coolest custom ferrules in professional golf.
See Rich Beem’s full WITB here
8) Jon Rahm’s 10-iron
Before going to LIV, Rahm was using a Callaway Apex TCB pitching wedge.
Now, he’s using a Callaway Apex TCB “10 iron.”
He’s also since upgraded to three Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke metalwoods, and fresh stampings on his Jaws Raw wedges. Click here to see Rahm’s full WITB from the 2024 PGA Championship.
9) “Why so serious?”
Tyrrell Hatton, another LIV player in the 2024 PGA Championship field, channels his inner Joker to ask everyone, “Why so serious?”
10) Block’s “Proto” iron, from address
As you probably know by now, Block switched out of his old TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 2014 irons, and into a full set of TaylorMade’s new “Proto” irons. We’ve already seen the Proto 4-iron in the bags of Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa, but this is our first look at the higher-lofted irons in the set.
Here’s a look at the 7-iron from address:
See what GolfWRX members are saying about the Proto irons in our Forums
And, with that, we say goodbye to Louisville, and the second major championship of the 2024 season. We’ll see you next week at the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas after a champion has been crowned.
Until then, don’t forget to check out all of our photos from this week at the 2024 PGA Championship!
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Whats in the Bag
Club Junkie WITB, league night week 5: Another L.A.B. putter arises
We will be one quarter of the way through Thursday night men’s league season after this week. BK played much better last week, so he is hoping to continue that success and post another good score.
Here are the 14 clubs that will hopefully win him some skins!
Driver: PXG 0311 Black Ops (9 degrees, neutral setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X (2024)
3-wood: Cobra Dark Speed LS Titanium (14.5 degrees, set +1)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-7x
Fairway: Callaway Apex UW (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura ATMOS Tour Spec Blue 8 X
Hybrid: PXG 0311 Black Ops 4h (22 degrees, Flat Setting)
Shaft: KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype 85 S
Irons: TaylorMade P770 Phantom Black (5-PW)
Shaft: KBS Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (50-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (56-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Wedge: PXG Sugar Daddy II (60-13 BP)
Shaft: Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 Stiff
Putter: L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max
Shaft: Accra x L.A.B. White
Ball: Titleist ProV1 Enhanced Alignment
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Dirk
Jun 7, 2013 at 3:30 pm
My comments on this piece keep getting blocked, so I’ll tone it down.
This piece was a yardsale. According to the writer’s bio, he’s trying to make it in the entertainment industry. Maybe that explains this piece’s lame focus.
Steve
Jun 6, 2013 at 3:46 pm
Hah this is funny. I liked the article. The kid has a sense of humor, unlike many here apparently.
Greg Moore - PGA
Jun 6, 2013 at 4:05 pm
So true!!
Ajax1868
Jun 14, 2013 at 3:26 pm
Some people are wound so tight and can’t take it for what it is……humor..
Rule #7 Blend in, by standing out
yo!
Jun 6, 2013 at 3:15 pm
Such a profound, philosophical and inspiring movie … “Wedding crashers.”
Trevor
Jun 6, 2013 at 10:39 am
That was a huge waste of time, thanks.
chuck
Jun 6, 2013 at 9:36 am
I was hoping for some different info rather than stamping of wedding crashers. I have been noticing and I think the last one I saw was on John Daly’s irons where it looks like they do some grinding and adding od some epoxy to the back of their irons. Is this for more weight due to their high swing speed or to help fade or draw the ball? Can anybody give me a real answer?
Doug
Jun 6, 2013 at 9:30 am
I watched him play in college. You won’t find a nicer guy on tour. I think he will eventually be a name you here more of.
Mick J
Jun 6, 2013 at 8:55 am
I regret reading this
Greg Moore - PGA
Jun 5, 2013 at 9:59 pm
Nice correlation back the film. I’ll keep shooting the close ups of the stampings to give you more ideas for stories.
Great job!
A.J.
Jun 5, 2013 at 8:16 pm
Wedding Crashers*…pretty funny though